Section 874 - Tax exemptions(1) It is hereby determined that the creation of the agency and the carrying out of its corporate purposes is in all respects for the benefit of the people of the state of New York and is a public purpose, and the agency shall be regarded as performing a governmental function in the exercise of the powers conferred upon it by this title and shall be required to pay no taxes or assessments upon any of the property acquired by it or under its jurisdiction or control or supervision or upon its activities. Provided, however, if the agency is located within a transportation district referenced in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section two hundred fifty-three of the tax law, it shall not be exempt from the additional tax on each mortgage of real property situated within the state imposed by such paragraph.(2) Any bonds or notes issued pursuant to this title, together with the income therefrom, as well as the property of the agency, shall be exempt from taxation, except for transfer and estate taxes.(3) Payments in lieu of taxes received by the agency shall be remitted to each affected tax jurisdiction within thirty days of receipt.(4)(a) The agency shall establish a uniform tax exemption policy, with input from affected tax jurisdictions, which shall be applicable to the provision of financial assistance pursuant to section eight hundred fifty-nine-a of this chapter and shall provide guidelines for the claiming of real property, mortgage recording, and sales tax exemptions. Such guidelines shall include, but not be limited to: period of exemption; percentage of exemption; types of projects for which exemptions can be claimed; procedures for payments in lieu of taxes and instances in which real property appraisals are to be performed as a part of an application for tax exemption; in addition, agencies shall in adopting such policy consider such issues as: the extent to which a project will create or retain permanent, private sector jobs; the estimated value of any tax exemptions to be provided; whether affected tax jurisdictions shall be reimbursed by the project occupant if a project does not fulfill the purposes for which an exemption was provided; the impact of a proposed project on existing and proposed businesses and economic development projects in the vicinity; the amount of private sector investment generated or likely to be generated by the proposed project; the demonstrated public support for the proposed project; the likelihood of accomplishing the proposed project in a timely fashion; the effect of the proposed project upon the environment; the extent to which the project will utilize, to the fullest extent practicable and economically feasible, resource conservation, energy efficiency, green technologies, and alternative and renewable energy measures; the extent to which the proposed project will require the provision of additional services, including, but not limited to additional educational, transportation, police, emergency medical or fire services; and the extent to which the proposed project will provide additional sources of revenue for municipalities and school districts. (b) The agency shall establish a procedure for deviation from the uniform tax exemption policy required pursuant to this subdivision. The agency shall set forth in writing the reasons for deviation from such policy, and shall further notify by certified mail, return receipt requested or an electronic correspondence with a read-receipt, the affected local taxing jurisdictions of the proposed deviation from such policy and the reasons therefor. When the affected local taxing jurisdiction is a school district, the agency shall notify by certified mail, return receipt requested or an electronic correspondence with a read-receipt, the district clerk and district superintendent of each affected school district.(5) Payments in lieu of taxes which are delinquent under the agreement or which an agency fails to remit pursuant to subdivision three of this section, shall be subject to a late payment penalty of five percent of the amount due which shall be paid by the project occupant (where taxes are delinquent because of the occupant's failure to make the required payment) or the agency (because of the agency's failure to remit pursuant to subdivision three of this section) to the affected tax jurisdiction at the time the payment in lieu of taxes is paid. For each month, or part thereof, that the payment in lieu of taxes is delinquent beyond the first month, interest shall accrue to and be paid to the affected tax jurisdiction on the total amount due plus a late payment penalty in the amount of one percent per month until the payment is made.(6) An affected tax jurisdiction which has not received a payment in lieu of taxes due to it under an agreement may commence legal action in any court of competent jurisdiction directly against any person, firm, corporation, organization or agency which is obligated to make payments in lieu of taxes under an agreement and has failed to do so. In such an action, the affected tax jurisdiction shall be entitled to recover the amount due, the late payment penalty, interest, expenses, costs and disbursements together with the reasonable attorneys' fees necessary to prosecute such action. Nothing herein shall be construed as providing an affected tax jurisdiction with the right to sue and recover from an agency which has not received payments in lieu of taxes from a project occupant.(7) Any refinancing of a project shall be subject to the provisions of section eight hundred fifty-nine-a of this chapter, except where such refinancing was previously approved pursuant to such section.(8) Agents of an agency and project operators shall annually file a statement with the state department of taxation and finance, on a form and in such a manner as is prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and finance, of the value of all sales and use tax exemptions claimed by such agents or agents of such agents or project operators, including, but not limited to, consultants or subcontractors of such agents or project operators, under the authority granted pursuant to this section. The penalty for failure to file such statement shall be the removal of authority to act as an agent of an agency or a project operator.(9)(a) Within thirty days of the date that the agency designates a project operator or other person to act as agent of the agency for purposes of providing financial assistance consisting of any sales and compensating use tax exemption to such person, the agency shall file a statement with the department of taxation and finance relating thereto, on a form and in such manner as is prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and finance, identifying each such agent so named by the agency, setting forth the taxpayer identification number of each such agent, giving a brief description of the property and/or services intended to be exempted from such taxes as a result of such appointment as agent, indicating the agency's rough estimate of the value of the property and/or services to which such appointment as agent relates, indicating the date when such designation as agent became effective and indicating the date upon which such designation as agent shall cease. (b)Within thirty days of the date that the agency's designation described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision has been amended, terminated, been revoked, or become invalid or ineffective for any reason, the agency shall file a statement with the department of taxation and finance relating thereto, on a form and in such manner as is prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and finance, identifying each such agent so named by the agency in the original designation and setting forth the taxpayer identification number and other identifying information of each such agent, the date as of which the original designation was amended, terminated, revoked, or became invalid or ineffective and the reason therefor, together with a copy of the original designation.(10) Each agency shall develop policies for the suspension or discontinuance of financial assistance, or for the modification of any payment in lieu of tax agreement to require increased payments under circumstances as specified in the policy, which may include but shall not be limited to events of material violation of the terms and conditions of a project agreement.(11) Each agency shall develop policies for the return of all or a part of the financial assistance provided for the project, including all or part of the amount of any tax exemptions, as specified in the policy, which may include but shall not be limited to material shortfalls in job creation and retention projections or material violations of the terms and conditions of project agreements. All such returned amounts of tax exemptions shall be redistributed to the appropriate affected tax jurisdiction, unless agreed to otherwise by any local taxing jurisdiction.(12) Each agency shall at least annually assess the progress of each project for which bonds or notes remain outstanding or straight-lease transactions have not terminated, or which continue to receive financial assistance or are otherwise active, toward achieving the investment, job retention or creation, or other objectives of the project indicated in the project application. Such assessments shall be provided to board members.Amended by New York Laws 2023, ch. 32,Sec. 2, eff. 1/1/2023.Amended by New York Laws 2022, ch. 766,Sec. 2, eff. 1/1/2023.Amended by New York Laws 2019, ch. 386,Sec. 1, eff. 10/23/2019.Amended by New York Laws 2017, ch. 3,Sec. 1, eff. 7/1/2017.Amended by New York Laws 2016, ch. 394,Sec. 1, eff. 7/1/2017.Amended by New York Laws 2015, ch. 563,Sec. 2, eff. 6/15/2016.Amended by New York Laws 2013, ch. 59,Sec. J-8, eff. 3/28/2013.